In 2019, an 87-year-old woman called a cab and asked the driver to take her to Walmart. She needed to purchase gift cards there as soon as possible.
Earlier that day, she received a call from a man whom she thought was her grandson. He told her he was involved in a car accident and needed those gift cards to keep him from going to jail. He needed her help, and she was more than willing to do whatever it took.
The worried grandmother was given specific directions to call a cab, then call her "grandson" back on her way home to relay the pin numbers on the gift cards.
She did as she was told and ended up in Richard Spencer's cab. Once she started explaining her situation to Richard, he realized he'd heard an eerily similar story that morning.
Another cab driver told Richard that this same passenger had been in his taxi that day. He said he took her to Walmart to purchase two gift cards for $2,000.
She was now repeating the trip — and Richard immediately saw the red flags.
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He could have ignored his instincts and driven to Walmart as he was told, no questions asked. But that's not at all what he did.
Richard refused to take her to Walmart. Instead, he drove straight to the police station — and ended up cracking the case, saving her from losing even more money to a coldhearted scammer.
